Bill C-60 (Historical)

Economic Action Plan 2013 Act, No. 1

An Act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on March 21, 2013 and other measures

Part 1 implements certain income tax measures proposed in the March 21, 2013 budget. Most notably, it
(a) allows certain adoption-related expenses incurred before a child’s adoption file is opened to be eligible for the Adoption Expense Tax Credit;
(b) introduces an additional credit for first-time claimants of the Charitable Donations Tax Credit;
(c) makes expenses for the use of safety deposit boxes non-deductible;
(d) adjusts the Dividend Tax Credit and gross-up factor applicable in respect of dividends other than eligible dividends;
(e) allows collection action for 50% of taxes, interest and penalties in dispute in respect of a tax shelter that involves a charitable donation;
(f) extends, for one year, the Mineral Exploration Tax Credit for flow-through share investors;
(g) extends, for two years, the temporary accelerated capital cost allowance for eligible manufacturing and processing machinery and equipment;
(h) clarifies that the income tax reserve for future services is not available in respect of reclamation obligations;
(i) phases out the additional deduction available to credit unions over five years;
(j) amends rules regarding the judicial authorization process for imposing a requirement on a third party to provide information or documents related to an unnamed person or persons; and
(k) repeals the rules relating to international banking centres.
Part 1 also implements other income tax measures and tax-related measures. Most notably, it
(a) amends rules relating to caseload management of the Tax Court of Canada;
(b) streamlines the process for approving tax relief for Canadian Forces members and police officers;
(c) addresses a technical issue in relation to the temporary measure that allows certain family members to open a Registered Disability Savings Plan for an adult individual who might not be able to enter into a contract; and
(d) simplifies the determination of the Canadian-source income of non-resident pilots employed by Canadian airlines.
Part 2 implements certain goods and services tax and harmonized sales tax (GST/HST) measures proposed in the March 21, 2013 budget by
(a) reducing the compliance burden for employers under the GST/HST pension plan rules;
(b) providing the Minister of National Revenue the authority to withhold GST/HST refunds claimed by a business where the business has failed to provide certain GST/HST registration information;
(c) expanding the GST/HST exemption for publicly funded homemaker services to include personal care services provided to individuals who require such assistance at home;
(d) clarifying that reports, examinations and other services that are supplied for a non-health-care-related purpose do not qualify for the GST/HST exemption for basic health care services; and
(e) ending the current GST/HST point-of-sale relief for the Governor General.
Part 2 also amends the Excise Tax Act and Excise Act, 2001 to modify the rules regarding the judicial authorization process for imposing a requirement on a third party to provide information or documents related to an unnamed person or persons.
In addition, Part 2 amends the Excise Act, 2001 to ensure that the excise duty rate applicable to manufactured tobacco other than cigarettes and tobacco sticks is consistent with that applicable to other tobacco products.
Part 3 implements various measures, including by enacting and amending several Acts.
Division 1 of Part 3 amends the Customs Tariff to extend for ten years, until December 31, 2024, provisions relating to Canada’s preferential tariff treatments for developing and least-developed countries. Also, Division 1 reduces the rate of duty under tariff treatments in respect of a number of items relating to baby clothing and certain sports and athletic equipment imported into Canada on or after April 1, 2013.
Division 2 of Part 3 amends the Trust and Loan Companies Act, the Bank Act, the Insurance Companies Act and the Cooperative Credit Associations Act to remove some residency requirements to provide flexibility for financial institutions to efficiently structure the committees of their boards of directors.
Division 3 of Part 3 amends the Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Act to renew the equalization and territorial formula financing programs until March 31, 2019 and to implement total transfer protection for the 2013-2014 fiscal year. That Act is also amended to clarify the time of calculation of the growth rate of the Canada Health Transfer for each fiscal year beginning after March 31, 2017.
Division 4 of Part 3 authorizes payments to be made out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund to certain entities or for certain purposes.
Division 5 of Part 3 amends the Canadian Securities Regulation Regime Transition Office Act to remove the statutory dissolution date of the Canadian Securities Regulation Regime Transition Office and to provide authority for the Governor in Council, on the Minister of Finance’s recommendation, to set another date for the dissolution of that Office.
Division 6 of Part 3 amends the Investment Canada Act to clarify how proposed investments in Canada by foreign state-owned enterprises and WTO investors will be assessed and to allow for the extension, when necessary, of timelines associated with national security reviews.
Division 7 of Part 3 amends the Canada Pension Plan to ensure that the Canada Revenue Agency can accurately identify, calculate and refund overpayments made to the Canada Pension Plan and the Quebec Pension Plan in a particular year by contributors who live outside Quebec.
Division 8 of Part 3 amends the Pension Act and the War Veterans Allowance Act to ensure that veterans’ disability benefits are no longer deducted when calculating war veterans allowance.
Division 9 of Part 3 amends the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act to authorize the revocation of temporary foreign worker permits, the revocation and suspension of opinions provided by the Department of Human Resources and Skills Development with respect to an application for a work permit and the refusal to process requests for such opinions. It authorizes fees to be paid for rights and privileges conferred by means of a work permit and exempts, from the application of the User Fees Act, those fees as well as fees for the provision of services in relation to the processing of applications for a temporary resident visa, work permit, study permit or extension of an authorization to remain in Canada as a temporary resident or in relation to requests for an opinion with respect to an application for a work permit.
It also provides that decisions made by the Refugee Protection Division under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act in respect of claims for refugee protection that were referred to that Division during a specified period are not subject to appeal to the Refugee Appeal Division if they take effect after a certain date.
Division 10 of Part 3 amends the Citizenship Act to expand the Governor in Council’s authority to make regulations respecting fees for services provided in the administration of that Act and cases in which those fees may be waived. It also exempts, from the application of the User Fees Act, fees for services provided in the administration of the Citizenship Act.
Division 11 of Part 3 amends the Nuclear Safety and Control Act to authorize the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission to spend for its purposes the revenue it receives from the fees it charges for licences.
Division 12 of Part 3 enacts the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Act, sets out the powers, duties and functions of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister for International Trade and the Minister for International Development and provides for the amalgamation of the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade and the Canadian International Development Agency.
Division 13 of Part 3 authorizes the taking of measures with respect to the reorganization and divestiture of all or any part of Ridley Terminals Inc.
Division 14 of Part 3 amends the National Capital Act and the Department of Canadian Heritage Act to transfer certain powers, duties and functions to the Minister of Canadian Heritage from the National Capital Commission. It also makes consequential amendments to the National Holocaust Monument Act to change the Minister responsible for the construction of the monument to the Minister of Canadian Heritage from the Minister responsible for the National Capital Act.
Division 15 of Part 3 amends the Salaries Act to add ministerial positions for regional development responsibilities for northern Canada, and northern and southern Ontario. It also amends the Salaries Act to replace a reference to the Solicitor General of Canada with a reference to the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness. It also makes an amendment to the Parliament of Canada Act to provide that the maximum number of Parliamentary Secretaries who may be appointed is equal to the number of ministers for whom salaries are provided in the Salaries Act.
Division 16 of Part 3 amends the Department of Public Works and Government Services Act to remove the requirement for the Minister of Public Works and Government Services to obtain a request from a government, body or person in Canada or elsewhere in order for the Minister to do certain things for or on their behalf. It also amends that Act to specify that the Governor in Council’s approval relating to those things may be given on a general or a specific basis.
Division 17 of Part 3 amends the Financial Administration Act to give the Governor in Council the authority to direct a Crown corporation to have its negotiating mandate approved by the Treasury Board for the purpose of the Crown corporation entering into a collective agreement with a bargaining agent. It also gives the Treasury Board the authority to require that an employee under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Treasury Board observe the collective bargaining between the Crown corporation and the bargaining agent. It requires that a Crown corporation that is directed to have its negotiating mandate approved obtain the Treasury Board’s approval before entering into a collective agreement. It also gives the Governor in Council the authority to direct a Crown corporation to obtain the Treasury Board’s approval before the Crown corporation fixes the terms and conditions of employment of certain of its non-unionized employees. Finally, it makes consequential amendments to other Acts.
Division 18 of Part 3 amends the Keeping Canada’s Economy and Jobs Growing Act to provide for increases to the sums that may be paid out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund for municipal, regional and First Nations infrastructure through the Gas Tax Fund. It also provides that the sums may be paid on the requisition of the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development.

Economic Action Plan 2013 Act, No. 1

[Massimo Pacetti, Liberal, Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the member asked a lot of questions, and I will try to address as many of them as I can.

My focus was mainly on a pro-Conservative movement. We have la Chambre de commerce du Montréal métropolitain. My speech was based on that.

The Conservatives seem to think that they have everybody on board. I am talking specifically about Quebec because I happen to be a Quebec member. It has nothing to do with pitting one region against the other. The member should read some of my declarations. I tabled a private member's bill that proposed to provide tax incentives to Canadians to travel across this country so they can get to know one another, and all of the Conservatives voted against it. Most Conservatives, not just the member across the way, could learn a lesson or two about how Canadians can learn about each other.

Most of my notes that referenced the cuts to le fonds des travailleurs are in a paper published by the Montreal chamber of commerce, which is a pro-Conservative movement. It said that it is a totally bad idea when 85% of the funds that are utilized by the Fonds du solidarité come from the province of Quebec.

[Peter Julian, NDP, Burnaby—New Westminster, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I listened carefully to my Liberal Party colleague.

It is clear that the Conservatives are going after investment funds, such as the Fonds de solidarité FTQ. They are also going after this country's caisses populaires. We do not understand how the Conservatives can go after financial institutions that play an important role in the return to prosperity we all want, in light of the disastrous few years we have experienced under the Conservatives.

What does my colleague think about these attacks on the institutions that promote investment, such as caisses populaires and investment funds? Why does he think the Conservatives are attacking these institutions that are so important to the Canadian economy?

[Massimo Pacetti, Liberal, Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I wish to thank the hon. member for Burnaby—New Westminster, British Columbia, whose French is excellent and whose question was even better.

I addressed two or three subjects in my speech. One of them was the cuts to the labour-sponsored funds tax credit. I wanted to point this out because it appeared in a report indicating that all the chambers of commerce opposed those cuts, even though most of them support the Conservatives. Thus, we do not understand why they want to cut a program supported by Conservatives, except the Conservatives who sit in the House. It is completely unacceptable.

As for the change to tax credits for credit unions, that is also unacceptable, because we see the growth across the country. Credit unions have always been very popular in Quebec, and this has always been good for attracting investment and money from individuals. Once again, it is completely unacceptable.

I do not know if we can say that this bill is bad for all Canadians, but it is certainly bad for Quebeckers.

[Michael Chong, Conservative, Wellington—Halton Hills, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I am thankful for the opportunity to speak to Bill C-60 at report stage, the government bill that would implement the legislative aspects of the government's budgetary plan.

What I have been hearing from the constituents in Wellington—Halton Hills, the riding I represent, is that their number one priority remains economic growth and job creation.

I have talked to hundreds of constituents over the last six months or so on my drives back to the riding, and called them and asked them what their priorities are, over the last half year. Consistently, they have said that they want to see the government remain focused on economic issues, that they are still concerned about job creation and economic growth. I am happy to say that this budget would deliver on those concerns.

I think it is useful to take a step back from the immediate events that have taken place in the last year and take a bit of a broader perspective on the budget.

Since September 2008, the world has changed. It is clear that the global recession that hit us is still with us in many respects. Even though the contraction of economic growth is there globally, many of the aftereffects of that recession that took place in the aftermath of September 2008, in the summer of 2009, are still with us today. Canada has weathered those after-effects better than most other advanced economies in the world. I think it is useful to take a look at what happened over the last five or six years, to put things into perspective.

In 2009, the IMF said it would be the first time since the 1930s that the global economy would actually contract. South of the border, in the United States, we saw a housing market that underwent a severe correction, affecting many homeowners.

In Europe, we saw the crisis that is still unfolding, a eurozone crisis of skyrocketing unemployment. In fact, I think the most recent figures for the eurozone show eurozone unemployment reaching a new high of about 12%. We have unemployment in Spain hitting 25%. Youth unemployment is almost double that level. We had a sovereign debt crisis about a year ago in Greece that almost led to a solvency problem. We have had ongoing austerity measures, deep austerity measures, that have taken place in the rest of the eurozone.

However, we in Canada have managed to escape the worst of some of those aftereffects. I think it is because the government, in late 2008 and early 2009, realized that we had to do things differently. We came forward with an economic action plan. This budget would build upon those economic action plans of the last five or six years.

I think the proof is in the evidence. The proof is in the empirical data. The fact is that since the recession, the global recession and the recession here in Canada, ended in the summer of 2009, more than 950,000 net new jobs have been created. Contrary to many people's misperceptions, most of those jobs have been full-time, 90% of them, and most of those full-time jobs have been good, highly skilled and highly paid jobs.

Do not take it just from me. Take it from the IMF and the OECD, which have said that this year Canada will lead the G7 in economic growth. In fact, the World Economic Forum has rated Canada's banks as the soundest in the world for the last four or five years.

Clearly, our plan has been working. It is has been working, in part, because of the government's actions through its budgets of the last four years or five years. It has worked, in part, because of actions taken by Canadians and the Canadian private sector.

I think it would also be useful to take a step back and take a look at this budget as one would review a set of financial statements. There has been a lot of talk about our deficits, about our debt to GDP ratios, about the government's taxation policy.

However, if we break down the budget, the government's budget, the government's financial position is a set of three financial statements. Look at the cash flow, look at the balance sheet and look at the profit and loss statement. I think there again we can say that Canada is in an excellent position.

In terms of our cash flow, clearly, we have no problems in servicing the national debt we have. In fact, I just checked on the quotes today. The Canada 10-year bond is trading at just above 2% yield. That yield is at almost a record low level. Never in the last 40 or 50 years have we seen the Canada 10-year bond trade at such a low yield.

Why is that? It is because investors want to buy Canada bonds. They have faith and confidence in the financial plan of the government, and there is high demand for these bonds, which indicates a great deal of investor confidence and investor faith in the government's financial plan.

The fact that all the major rating agencies have once again reaffirmed the Canada bond Triple-A rating is also proof that, from a cash flow perspective, we have nothing to worry about.

From a balance sheet perspective, our debt to GDP ratio is currently about 33%. If we look back at the history of our debt to GDP ratio, it has not been this low since the mid-1960s. In the period from the mid-1960s to the mid-1980s our debt to GDP was at or below 33%, and we would have to go back much further, back to the first 20 years of the 20th century to see Canada's debt to GDP ratio at that level.

If we take our debt interest to GDP ratio, there again it has not been this low since the early part of the 20th century, so from a balance sheet perspective, we are also in great shape.

If we look at the government's budgetary plan as a profit and loss statement, this year's deficit is projected to be $19 billion. That represents 1.2% of our GDP, the lowest in the G7. There again, it is an excellent figure.

As we have committed many times, we will eliminate this deficit by 2015-16. In fact, in the fiscal year 2015-16, we project a slight budgetary surplus, and we have done this despite the fact that over the last six years since coming to power, the government has significantly reduced personal and corporate income taxation in this country, and we have committed to balancing this budget without raising corporate or personal income taxes.

From a cash flow perspective, from a balance sheet perspective, from a profit and loss perspective, the government's budgetary plan is working and it is prudent.

I would also like to highlight specific measures in the budget. We have the Canada jobs grant, which would be built on the expiry of the labour market agreements that have been negotiated with the provinces and are to expire next year, in 2014.

Clearly, when we look at the macro unemployment picture in this country, we see we have regions of significantly higher unemployment and regions of significantly lower unemployment—in fact, one would argue, naturally zero unemployment in some parts of the country—and we need to better match labour market demand with unemployed Canadians who are looking for work. The Canada jobs grant is precisely the plan that would help us match employers with Canadians who want to work.

Another significant aspect of this budget that I want to highlight is the record-setting investments that the government would make over the next 10 years in infrastructure. In fact, total federal outlays for infrastructure, beginning in 2014-15, would be $70 billion over that 10-year period. That is a record amount of infrastructure money that this government would commit to, which would flow to municipalities and provinces, to help build the infrastructure requirements of tomorrow.

Finally, I want to highlight the fact that we are also very focused on job creation and economic growth, especially for Canada's small to medium-sized businesses. That is why we would extend the hiring credit for small businesses. That is why we would create a fund of $60 million over the next five years to help incubator and accelerator organizations, and that is why also we would create an advanced manufacturing fund to help manufacturers in southern Ontario who have borne the brunt of the recession.

In sum, this is a good budget, a budget I support. I encourage other members in the House to acknowledge some of the good aspects of the budget. I do not expect them to support it, being in opposition, but I do think that some of the good work the government has done over the last number of years that would be carried on in this current budget needs to be acknowledged. It has put Canada in an enviable position in the G7 and in the OECD, and I encourage members on both sides of the aisle to acknowledge that good work and commend the government for it.

[Paul Dewar, NDP, Ottawa Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his overview. He had some good points underlining where we stand on the balance sheet, but I have some problems with some of the assumptions he made in his comments. He made it sound as if we are doing well and have done well through the 2008 period because of the government's policies.

In fact, it was in spite of many of the people who sit on the front bench, not because of them, that we are doing well. He should remember well when there was a push to merge banks, to deregulate. We would have seen the disaster we have seen south of the border to some extent if that had happened, and we withstood the 2008 storm primarily because our banks were capitalized and we did not deregulate and allow these kinds of financial products to come about. I think he should acknowledge that.

He should also acknowledge that there is almost half a trillion dollars not being invested, which was Mr. Carney's point, of course. Where is the plan to get money moving and invest to create jobs, and would he not acknowledge the point I made about the push to merge and deregulate?

[Michael Chong, Conservative, Wellington—Halton Hills, ON]

Mr. Speaker, in hindsight, I agree with the member opposite that for the government of the day to ensure that the widely held rule remained in place to prevent any single shareholder from taking over a bank or potentially merging two banks into one was the right thing to do. It has helped us avoid the worst of the excesses of some of the large global financial institutions that we saw south of the border, in the United Kingdom and elsewhere, so I think that the maintenance of the widely held rule is a good thing to keep in place and something that I strongly support.

With respect to the member's question about the surplus corporate cash remaining on the sidelines, the most powerful tool that we have right now to encourage Canadian and foreign corporations resident in Canada to deploy their money in the markets is what the U.S. fed is doing. Ben Bernanke and the U.S. fed have deployed quantitative easing. That far and away overshadows anything that this government could do in cajoling and encouraging private sector companies to deploy their cash and put it into productive economic growth.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the member's comments acknowledging that it was the Chrétien government that ensured that we did not move toward a deregulation of the banking industry and that as a direct result, 10 years later, we were able to manage our banking industry as banks around the world started to default.

The question I have for the member is with respect to infrastructure dollars. The member said that we have record high amounts of infrastructure dollars that are going to be spent or committed by the government. What I take exception to is his describing it as a record amount of money. We are talking about a 10-year period of time. The vast majority of that record amount is being allocated post-2015 election.

My question to the member is this: why should Canadians believe the government to be sincere when most of that infrastructure dollar spending would occur after the next federal election?

[Michael Chong, Conservative, Wellington—Halton Hills, ON]

Mr. Speaker, my understanding is that Mr. Chrétien was opposed to the bank mergers but Mr. Martin was very much in favour of them. I heard that through people who were very directly related to that situation, so clearly there was a vigorous debate within the government of the day about what was to be done. In fact, those were probably the cues taken to the senior bank executives when they announced in Toronto that they would merge. They probably got signals from Finance Canada at the time, which was then headed up by finance minister Paul Martin, that it was okay to merge. However, clearly someone higher up in the government, the prime minister, had different ideas, and that is why those mergers were not allowed to proceed.

With respect to the government's 10-year plan for infrastructure, we can bank on the fact that the government has delivered a record-setting amount of infrastructure funding over the last five years. We can bank on the government's past actions as a predictor of its future intention with respect to this 10-year plan that starts in 2014.

[Paul Dewar, NDP, Ottawa Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleagues, who are going to be holding the government's feet to the fire tonight on what the Conservatives call an economic action plan. It was supposed to be a budget; many people said after it was announced by the finance minister that they were still waiting for the budget.

I want to begin my comments by referring to some of the problems with the budget from 2012.

I will go back to November 2012, when there was this interesting interplay between the President of the Treasury Board and the PBO. The government had laid out the idea that it was going to find 70% of the savings it had booked by finding efficiencies in government. That was fine. The only problem was it did not provide the evidence, and we all know what happened after that: the Parliamentary Budget Officer had to take the government to court.

I have started my comments by providing this background because if the government is going to put assumptions into the budget that have to do with savings and it is going to show Canadians that they can trust it, then it should be able to show parliamentarians, and indeed the Parliamentary Budget Officer, where it is going to find those savings. It should not make general sweeping comments.

This is not new, though. I remember having the same problem three budgets ago. Three budgets ago, the government was talking about selling off capital assets and finding savings to meet its budgetary requirements. In fact, it was not able to do that.

The problem was that the government had not identified where it was going to sell off those assets. It just had some general ideas.

This is a continuing problem with the Conservatives. Over time, when they make assumptions that they are going to find savings but do not identify where the savings are, it catches up to them. We saw that with the government's forecasts for deficits and growth, but most importantly in the budgetary numbers, which is what we are discussing.

When the budget came forward—or the economic action plan, as Conservatives call it—we did not get details. In fact, some commented that the only important parts of the economic action plan were the first four pages and the final pages, and everything in between was fluff and propaganda.

Those are not my words, but I agree with them. The government is trying to fool people by putting out announcements and pronouncements, to the point where we do not even call it a budget any more.

I suppose there is some truth in advertising, because it is not a budget as we normally understand a budget to be. Normally a budget will lay out financial aspirations and give some evidence of where the savings are going to be found and what programs are going to be invested in.

One example that has really irritated a lot of people in my riding and across the country, particularly young people, is the Canada job grant. If we were to watch our televisions tonight and see the government's ad, we would think that right now there is a program for young people called the Canada jobs grant. In fact, we would be very disappointed if we picked up the phone the next day and tried to contact someone to avail ourselves of this program, because it turns out that this program that the government has made a lot of fanfare announcing does not exist. It is predicated on agreements that have not happened yet. We have a government now that has to get agreement from the provinces, which is no small task, and then the rollout may happen.

With regard to youth unemployment, right now the government is telling young people to just trust it because it has a program for them. If they pick up the phone to try to get help, there is no one on the other end. That is indicative of this budget. What we get is a lot of hack.

The government's credibility is suffering not just because of what we have seen in the last couple of weeks with the scandals in the other place but also in its actual currency in being able to tell Canadians exactly where it is going to find savings and exactly what programs will exist for young people.

On top of that, as if advertising programs with great fanfare and making people believe they actually exist was not bad enough, there are other pieces of legislation—because that is what the government does—that should not be in the budget at all, in particular the amalgamation of CIDA into the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade.

Bringing CIDA under the umbrella of foreign affairs is a very important exercise. At committee we asked officials when they found about this merger. They were told basically the day of the budget. We asked who was consulted on this merger. It turns out it was not really anyone. It looks like the Conservatives had a conversation among themselves.

I say that because when other jurisdictions have done this—the U.K., the U.S.—they took the time to consult within government to start with. It turns out that if public servants have been working on international development and foreign affairs for most of their careers, one would think they would be good sources for consulting on the changes we are about to see with CIDA. One would think we would consult Canadians on this issue, even those who work in international development and diplomacy.

However, that is not the case with the current government, because it does not consult. What is really offensive and undermines the opportunity to see this done well is that it was put into a budget bill. A budget bill is the forecast of what we should be looking at in terms of economic activity and investment, but Conservatives put the merger of departments into a budget bill. Why? It is because they have done it before and they think that is the way to do business.

If this were even contemplated in the U.K. or the U.S., it would be laughed at. Officials had better go to either the White House, the Pentagon, et cetera, or in the case of the U.K. to cabinet, with a plan. In the case of the U.K., when the merger occurred, there was actually a white paper on it. People were consulted. It was in the platform of the government of the day.

In the case of the United States, people consulted widely. Ms. Clinton, as Secretary of State, went out and put together different groups that did the work speedily until the job was done. However, with the Conservative government, people find out the day of the budget, with no consultations.

Now we are hearing that a transition team is in place, but officials on the transition team have to wait for a budget to be passed. They then have to scratch their heads and wait for the minister to give direction. By the way, the people they work with are wondering how this is going work, but the officials cannot tell them. Why? It is because Conservatives did not bother to even consult.

With regard to CIDA, people are concerned about the money that CIDA will bring to the table and where it is going to go. They are worried about the mandate, because in this legislation they do not have the language that most people would like to see, the language in the official development assistance legislation that focuses on the reduction of poverty or poverty eradication. Instead the mandate is to follow Canadian values.

I am not sure Canadians feel a lot of comfort when they see the way the government interprets Canadian values. According to the Minister of Foreign Affairs today, our Canadian values mean not signing on to the arms trade treaty because somehow there is a conspiracy that the whole world is involved in to bring in gun control that the Conservatives do not like.

Canadian values are in the eye of the beholder. What we need is legislation that will guide international development assistance, but what we see with this economic propaganda plan of the government is that it does not meet the test on numbers. We are still waiting for the government to tell us how it is going to make its savings from the previous budget, which we do not have, and I am sure every Conservative knows that. We are now waiting for the government to tell us how we go forward with that problem. We do not have numbers from the previous budget in going forward to 2013. As well, we have pieces of legislation such as the merger of CIDA into foreign affairs as an add-on, without contemplation, without consultation, without a plan.

I have just started. I started with the fact that it seems to be a shell game, a Fantasia for young people. At the end of the day, what we have is not a budget. It is not credible, and that is why we will not be supporting it.

[Paul Calandra, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, I wonder if the hon. member might comment a bit further. The NDP member for Laval earlier said that he thought a number of the items in Canada's economic action plans were actually very good ideas and were needed in the economy at the time. I wonder if there is a bit of disagreement within the NDP with respect to the value of the economic action plans.

Also, I wonder if he might comment on specifics, because again, the member for Laval said that the NDP's position would be to balance the budget without making cuts. However, I have not heard any specifics on how it would do that. Are the New Democrats specifically talking about increasing taxes to do that? Where would they be increasing taxes? If they are talking about cutting programs, what specific programs are they talking about cutting? What income levels could Canadians expect tax increases on? Are they talking also about increasing the GST, or will it just be a carbon tax? Could he focus his points on whether they are talking about tax increases, and if they have identified those programs they are going to cut, what are they?

[Paul Dewar, NDP, Ottawa Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the member is having some fun thinking of ways to try to be crafty and find a wedge. The problem is that the member knows that the most recent tax we have had to deal with in the House is called the HST. Some called it the Prime Minister's name sales tax. I do not. This government brought that in. The only taxes we will talk about that have been raised have been from the government. He knows that they are raising taxes in this budget and that he is trying to find a wedge somehow.

What we have said, and we will stand by it, is that when people such as the Parliamentary Budget Officer want to have numbers to show how one might balance the budget, we would, as a government, provide those numbers, not hide from accountability, as he has.

[Wayne Easter, Liberal, Malpeque, PE]

Mr. Speaker, I enjoyed the remarks from the member for Ottawa Centre. When he talked about the Canada job grant and that the program does not actually exist, I think that is symbolic of a lot of things in this so-called budget. It is a lot of fiction. What we also have in this so-called budget is a statement from the Minister of Finance that he will balance the books in 2015. It is as if it has already happened when we listen to them, but we know that it is fiction too, because this Minister of Finance has not hit a budget target yet.

My question really relates to the other aspect of the member for Ottawa Centre's critic portfolio, and that relates to CIDA. It definitely should not be in a budget bill. What does the member see as the implications for international development assistance as a result of it being transferred to Foreign Affairs, more for business interests than development interests?

[Paul Dewar, NDP, Ottawa Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, this could be done in a way that is responsible and responsive. The problem is that the government is just throwing it all together and throwing it in the budget.

In responding to the member's question, let me just state what Secretary of State Clinton did. She had a committee representing 16 departments and agencies that were consulted, and they worked on how they were going to change development in that country. In the U.K., they had a white paper process, which as we know, in the Westminster tradition, is a way in which we take a policy, go out and consult and actually lay it out. This government has done nothing, not even with its own employees.

I am deeply concerned that the Conservatives could take what could be a good idea and make it a bad rollout to start with and something I guess the rest of us would have to fix later.

[Pierre-Luc Dusseault, NDP, Sherbrooke, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to ask my hon. colleague a question. He gave an excellent speech on CIDA and its merger with the Department of Foreign Affairs.

Since he is the member for Ottawa Centre and might know more than I do about public servants, I wanted to ask him what he thinks of what was revealed in the budget regarding the Treasury Board's political interference in collective bargaining with government employees, particularly employees of crown corporations like the CBC, Canada Post and so on.

Could he comment on the government's interference and meddling in crown corporations' collective bargaining?

[Paul Dewar, NDP, Ottawa Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question. He is right. There is a lot of concern in this town about the Conservative government. It is not only about its track record but about going forward.

The power grab we see in this budget is interfering not only with the collective agreements but with management. It seems as if the government does not trust the managers of crown corporations, let alone the people who deliver all the public services we rely on.